Key takeaways:
- At least 12 people were killed and about 20 or 21 wounded in overnight Russian missile and drone attacks on Kyiv and the wider region, officials said.
- Six of the dead in Kyiv were railway workers after a Ukrzaliznytsia depot was hit, while four people were killed in Boryspil, including a 26-year-old Indian national.
- Ukraine reported drone strikes on Russia’s Ust-Luga port and other targets, while Russia said one person was killed in the Belgorod region.
Russian missiles and drones struck Kyiv and its surrounding region overnight, killing at least 12 people, including rail workers and an Indian national, in the sixth straight day of heavy attacks on Ukraine’s capital, officials said Tuesday.
Ukrainian authorities said at least 20 to 21 people were injured, including two children. Fires broke out in three districts of Kyiv after the barrage, and a railway depot was hit, killing six workers from the state rail company Ukrzaliznytsia, the BBC reported.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said at least eight people were killed in the city and five others were injured. Prosecutors said four more people died in the wider Kyiv region after a residential building was damaged in the suburb of Boryspil. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said 50 people were evacuated from that building.
“Kyiv region came under a massive attack by Russian missiles and strike drones tonight,” Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv regional military administration, wrote on Telegram.
Zelenskyy said nearly 350 rescue workers had worked through the night in Kyiv and the surrounding region. He said Russia had launched a “significant number of jet drones and ballistic missiles” and that eight other Ukrainian regions were also attacked.
The Ukrainian president denounced what he called “Russian terror” and said an Indian citizen was among the dead. Ukraine’s Interior Minister Ivan Vyhivsky later said the man, who turned 26 on Tuesday, was killed in Boryspil.
“Russia always plans its strikes specifically to cause as much destruction to people’s lives as possible, and it succeeds only when air defence capabilities are insufficient,” Zelenskyy said on social media, urging Ukraine’s allies to strengthen the country’s air defences.
Russia’s Ministry of Defence said it carried out a “massive strike using high-precision weapons” against Ukraine’s “military-industrial and fuel-energy” facilities. Al Jazeera reported that Moscow said it hit military and energy facilities in Kyiv and Odesa, as well as regions surrounding those cities.
Ukraine’s border service also said Russian forces struck the ferry checkpoint at Orlivka on the border with Romania, a NATO member.
The latest assault followed days of Russian drone and missile attacks on Kyiv, a pattern that appears aimed at exhausting Ukrainian air defences and undermining civilian morale. Russia’s military warned over the weekend that it was preparing “massive” strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities. The overnight attacks also came after 38 people were killed Friday in Russian strikes on a weapons depot in the Kyiv region, where shells, mines and drones detonated.
Ukraine also carried out strikes inside Russia. Acting Belgorod region Governor Aleksandr Shuvaev said one person was killed in a Ukrainian attack. Leningrad regional Governor Aleksandr Drozdenko said a drone attack hit the major Baltic Sea port of Ust-Luga, triggering a fire. Ukraine says targets such as Ust-Luga, which handles millions of tons of petroleum products each year, are legitimate because they help finance Moscow’s war effort.
In Russia’s Samara region, Governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev said a Ukrainian drone attack hit Novokuibyshevsk, blowing out windows in an apartment building. The town and surrounding area on the Volga River are home to several major oil refineries run by state oil company Rosneft.
Al Jazeera reported that Ukraine’s Drone Forces commander said Ukrainian forces hit 54 Russian “shadow fleet” vessels in August to prevent illegal oil sales from funding Russia’s war.
Russia and Ukraine deny deliberately attacking civilians.
The attacks came as European Union defence and foreign ministers met in Ireland to discuss strengthening Ukraine’s air defences. Ukraine faces shortages of interceptor missiles, particularly U.S.-made Patriot systems used against ballistic threats.
On Monday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war, saying every day of conflict set humanity back. India’s economy depends heavily on discounted oil from Moscow.
Be First to Comment